Tata Safari Storme facelift, Nissan Terrano AWD, Nissan Datsun price hike, Honda low cost motorcycle, Hyundai Elite i20 ICOTY - IAB Retrospect
To sum up what happened in the automotive industry in the past week, we have the IAB Retrospect. Here's part 1 of the two-part series.
1. Tata Safari Storme facelift rendering
Tata is readying a mildly facelifted version of the Safari Storme for a launch in 2015. Slight changes to the front-end aside (as shown in IAB's rendition), the vehicle is expected to get a revised interior and a slightly more powerful engine.
2. Nissan Terrano AWD
Much like the Renault Duster AWD, which was launched a few months ago, Nissan is readying an all-wheel drive (AWD) version of the badge-engineered version of Duster, the Terrano. It will include similar features as Duster AWD, and would be offered in two variants.
3. Nissan and Datsun price hike
The new year is here, but it's not just good news. Rising input costs have made Nissan India increase the prices of both Nissan and Datsun products from January 2015. Nissan vehicles can see an increase of up to Rs 18,000 while the Datsun Go can be dearer by up to Rs 11,000.
4. Honda's low cost motorcycle
Honda is planning a low cost motorcycle for the Indian market, which will be positioned below the Dream series. Apart from this, the bike maker has plans to launch over 10 new products next year, 7 of which will be refreshed versions of current products while 3 will be completely new.
5. Hyundai Elite i20 wins ICOTY
The accolade ICOTY (or Indian car of the year) has been awarded to the Hyundai Elite i20. The vehicle launched as the replacement to the i20 has done exceedingly well in the market bagging 60,000 bookings within four months of its launch. It's the second year in succession that Hyundai has won the award; last year it was the Grand i10.